


Oh god, this again?

by greyish



Series: crime doesn't pay (but sometimes it pays a lot) [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-12 12:27:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15995231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyish/pseuds/greyish





	1. Chapter 1

It's been two months since Barry got a wierd phone call from a stranger, and he's all but forgotten about it. He'd have been more worried but ... Well, Cisco hadn't been able to trace the call anywhere and there wasn't much else to be done.

Caitlin had invested her criminally-aquired but painstakingly-cleaned money in an art gallery, and that had been a whirlwind of doubt, hysteria, and ultimate triumph that totally eclipsed Barry's potentially threatening phone call.

Joe was in remission and bitvhing about how wierdly pleased Iris and Barry got whenever he did anything (I'm not a fucking miracle I just cut a slice of ham) and Mick and Len were doing this wierd courtship thing where they took him out to dinner and watched movies together and bought him chocolate on Valentine's Day. (It's called dating, Cisco had helpfully told him).

So Barry had pretty much given up on worrying about some wierd guy getting in touch with him for undoubtedly nefarious reasons when his phone rang at three am.

"Whfgy" Barry said into the phone, leaning over a snoring Mick to reach it where it was charging.

"Mr Allen?" The voice said.

Barry sat up, yanking the phone of the chord, and clumsily disentangled himself from the bed. He tripped over with a muffled swear getting out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

"Yes?" He said at last, panting.

"I told you I would be in touch."

"Uh ... Yeah, but that was months ago. Why are you calling me?"

"I require a favour."

"Cool." Barry said, "I require sleep. Call back later?"

"You can return to your unsavoury companions soon enough," the voice says, sending a chill down Barry's spine.

"How did -"

"Mr Allen, do you know of a man named Harrison Wells?"

"The actor dude?" Barry says flippantly, like he didn't: 1.) dress as Indiana Jones for Halloween three years in a row when he was a kid, and 2.) reaserch the fuck out of Eobard Thawne - long term rivalry with established genius Harrison Wells very much included - before he robbed him.

"No. Wells, the scientist." The voice (probably Eobard) sounds annoyed.

"Ohhhh, that Harrison. The one who beat you out for a Nobel prize and called you a self-serving prick to the press?"

There's a long pause.

"This is Eobard Thawne right?" Barry asked chattily. "Guy who's currently completing with Harrison Wells to create the best scientific research facility in the country?"

There was a pause.

"Why would you assume that?" Totally-Eobard-Thawne said smoothly, "unless I had a motive to be calling you, like say ... If you stole some paintings from me?"

Barry stifled a gulp and said in his best cheery voice, "why would you call someone who stole from you for a favour?"

"Because you owe me, Mr Allen."

"I don't believe I do."

"I don't care if you believe it or not, you and all of your precious friends will go to jail if I don't this one, very simple favour. And perhaps a few more down the line. We'll get to that."

"Fine." Barry sighed, "what's the favour?"

"Harrison Wells will be unvailing a new particle accelerator on Monday. You will not attend."

"I wasn't planning on it," Barry says.

"Instead, you will go home to your apartment, alone. No one can know of this."

"Fine."

"You will stay there until morning."

"Why -"

"Because if you don't, the police will come into possession of some incredibly incriminating evidence that you and your companions robbed some very expensive paintings earlier this year. I will send you a copy of the evidence so you know that I'm serious. You will not tell anyone about this. Am I clear?"

"Perfectly."

"The concequences of ignoring me on this point will be dire, believe me."

"I believe you."

The line went dead. Barry stared at his phone. He went back into the bedroom, sat between his boyfriends and shook them both awake.

"Hhhgh" said Len

"So I just got another wierd call," Barry said. "I'm not supposed to tell you about it."

"I'll make coffee," Mick says.

 


	2. Chapter 2

"You look ridiculous" Caitlin says, arms folded. Mick glares and folds his arms back at her. 

 

"He looks  _awesome"_ Barry says, grinning. 

 

Mick is in some kind of bizarre Halloween-twist sniper costumer. With goggles. 

 

"I'll be staking your apartment out from across the road." He says, ignoring Caitlin. "Cisco and Caitlin will hide in the apartment next door. Did you bring your costumes?" 

 

Caitlin huffs. 

 

"Dude, they're probably surveillance-ing the place," Cisco tells her, grinning in his Grandma outfit, "we've got to blend in." 

 

Caitlin groans, but she drags a pantsuit and wig out of Cisco's duffle bag and stomps off to the bathroom to change. 

 

"Don't mind her, she just hates wearing wigs." Barry says reassuringly. 

 

"They are very itchy." Len agrees, scratching at his jet-black mullet wig. 

 

Barry looks away quickly before he starts laughing again. 

 

"Okay." Len says, "we ready?" 

 

Barry nods.

  
"I go into the apartment, hang around for however long, and you'll all be around watching my back."

 

"Exactly." Len says, "personally I'm hoping this asshole shows up so I can beat him."

 

Mick growls approvingly. Barry rolls his eyes. 

 

"There will be no beating in my apartment," he says, "my dad is a cop. If you want to beat him, you'll have to take him home first."

  
Len shrugs. 

 

Barry's apartment feels weirdly lonely, even though he knows everyone is right nearby. Now he thinks about it, he hasn't really been back here for a while. Over a month, probably. The thought sends a cold shock down his spine. Did he ...  _move in_ with Len and Mick??

 

"Mick." Barry says into the microphone.

 

"What is it? Emergency?"

 

"No, no ... just ..."

 

"Don't talk unless it's an emergency, Barry - jesus!" 

  
"Sorry, just - I thought of something."

 

Mick sighs. 

 

"What is it?"

 

Barry frowns, "maybe Len should be a part of this conversation ... where  _is_ Len?"

 

He'd lost track of Len's part of the plan after he saw the mullet. 

 

"I'm up here." Len's muffled voice sounds from the ceiling. Barry looks up to see his boyfriend strapped to the ceiling fan. He waves.

 

"Don't  _draw attention to me_ you -"

 

Across the city, they hear an explosion.

 

Barry jumps up and runs to the window, Mick howling at him to get the fuck down through his earpiece. He ducks, but something bright fills up the room and hits him, hard. 

 

When he wakes up, Len is half dangling from the ceiling fan, struggling with the straps. 

 

"Damn - velcro -" He huffs, and falls to the floor with a thunk. Barry loses consciousness again. 

 

The first thing he sees when he wakes up again is Cisco and Caitlin crawling across his floor with strange devices strapped to their arms, beeping wildly. 

 

"Guys?" He says groggily. Mick suddenly appears with a huge mug of something hot and delicious smelling. Barry tries to make grabby hands but his arms are uncooperative. Len's arms are suddenly behind him, helping him to sit up. Mick holds the cup out, as if Barry's going to let himself get fed like an infant. Or something. He manages to wrangle his arms into motion and grabs the mug with two shaking hands. Mick looks grumpy, but doesn't object. Huh.

  
"Did I scare ya?" He asks them. Mick glares and Len sighs, long suffering. Cisco looks up from the floor.

  
"You got like, massively electrocuted." He says, "someone did a bunch of weird shit to your apartment. The whole window and floor and everything is super conductive. Len only got zapped a little because he misjudged how easy it would be to unstrap himself from the ceiling fan."

 

Barry cranes his neck around. Len's hair is all on end, and his face is slightly singed-looking. 

 

"Woah," he says, "what do I look like?"

 

"Completely normal," Caitlin says, a frown on her face, "how do you feel?"

 

Barry thinks for a second. He's shaking, hard, and his limbs feel ... more, somehow. He's full of adrenaline, he realises. He jumps up, thrusting the mug back into Mick's hands. 

 

"I feel  _amazing,"_  he says, and grins at their confused faces. 


End file.
